You are here

KJZZ News

More than 80 students may have to call a
four-star hotel their “home” when classes start at Arizona State University’s
Downtown Phoenix Campus August 22. For the first time, Taylor Place, the only
dorm on campus, is overcrowded.

A few weeks ago, we talked with the longtime artistic director of Arizona Theatre Company, David Ira Goldstein, about his plans to retire from the company following two decades in charge. It was around that time The Arizona Republic reported the company was $1 million in the red.

President Obama is scheduled to sign a bill Friday that will lower college student loan rates. After months of congressional wrangling and a missed deadline, loan rates doubled on July 1. The Senate and House approved a new bill just before the summer recess.

The Tucson City Council is fed up with abandoned shopping carts, and it is reviewing a proposal to fine retailers who are repeat offenders. Store owners would see the fines added to their city water bills each month.

The home furnishing industry is starting to pick up again as the nation’s housing market continues to improve. According to Furniture Today, an industry newspaper, sales are expected to increase more than 4 percent this year.

Kingman’s
Hill Top Motel is getting a renovation. It was recently awarded Arizona’s only
National Park Service Route 66 grant. Hill Top Motel has been around since the 1950s and is now undergoing a renovation.

Classes at
Arizona State University resume next week, but a push to discourage excess and
underage drinking at the school has already begun.“Operation Safe and Sober” is
a collaboration between ASU and the Tempe Police Department.

A new report released Tuesday said a better plan is needed to deal with
the U.S. Forest Service’s airtanker shortage. The Government Accountability
Office said the Forest Service should work with the Department of the Interior
to develop a more coordinated approach, but not everyone is sold on that strategy.

This Labor Day weekend the Willcox Chamber of Commerce and a
local cycling club have organized a 66 mile bike ride to benefit high school
students in Willcox. The Willcox Flyer bike ride is just one of the
approximately 250 cycling events held in Arizona
each year.

A judge has ruled the Maricopa County Attorney's Office can
move forward with plans to retry a high-profile murder case. :Debra Milke’s lawyers had argued the county attorney’s
office was pursuing the case for political reasons.

Holiday travelers may have to look
beyond Canyon Lake for the Labor Day weekend. The lake and part of the
surrounding Boulder Recreation area will be closed. The Salt River Project said Canyon Lake, about 45
minutes northeast of Mesa, will be lowered through the weekend, but it is not due to drought.

Go to the escort section for Phoenix on backpage.com and you will find a very long list of adult ads. If the escorts advertising there are following the law, each one will be licensed and registered with the city.

The black
footed ferret has been endangered for decades and was twice considered
extinct, but it now lives in pockets across the west, thanks to reintroduction
efforts and monitoring, and every spring and fall, Arizona Game and Fish looks
for volunteer ferret spotters near Seligman.

Tucson Electric Power says it is diversifying its energy portfolio, which will mean generating more power from renewable sources.The company says it is attempting to take advantage of low natural gas prices by entering into talks with Entegra Power Group to buy its gas-fired generating unit at the Gila River Generating Station in Gila Bend.

A costly game of cat and mouse unfolds nightly along the banks of the
Rio Grande in South Texas. The number of immigrants crossing illegally
there has doubled in the last four years, making it the busiest section
along the Southwest border.

More than two inches of rain have fallen in some parts of the North Valley, which have lead to power outages, traffic delays and flash-flood warnings.
Rain falls at the campus of Grand Canyon University in West Phoenix Monday.

Same sex marriage in Arizona is going to be on hold at least for a few more years. Organizers have said national gay rights groups want to focus in 2014 on states that generally seemed more receptive to the concept than Arizona.

Arizona
continues to grieve the loss of 19 hotshot firefighters, during the summer
wildfire season. But, in terms of lost forests, this year was less destructive
than average, according to Fire Prevention Officer Carrie Dennett, of the State
Forestry Division.

Authorities around the country are putting an emphasis on
child safety seats this week. They're reminding you that you need a safety seat
each and every time a child rides in a motor vehicle. AAA spokeswoman Michelle Donatti says
there's a good reason for that.